What happens when you combine 22 knots of breeze, planing waves, sunshine and 83 teams at the J/70 World Championship? Smiles all around the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in Florida, and exhausted sailors looking forward to two more days of racing! Tom Mallindine and Charlie Thompson’s Brutus III (GBR) excelled in the brilliant conditions with scores of 2,1 Thursday to launch into second place overall at 20 net points. Following two races on the day, the fleet is up to six total, meaning the discard came into effect to scramble up the standings. Peter Duncan’s Relative Obscurity (USA) stayed hot in posting finishes of 6,5 (now discarding an 18 from race one), and maintained the overall advantage at 18 net points. Laura Grondin’s Dark Energy (USA) kept close with a pair of twelves for third place with 39 net points.
Andres Ducasse’s Ducasse Sailing Team (CHI) moved atop the 28-boat Corinthian Division, and Tim Ryan’s Vamos (AUS) kept the lead in the 13-boat One-Pro Division.
The top three finishers in Race Five were Bruce Golison’s Midlife Crisis (USA), Mallindine and Thompson’s Brutus III (GBR) and Martin Dent’s Jelvis (GBR). In Race Six, the Brutus III group took line honors, followed by Dick Kalow’s Superior 1 (USA) and Jack Franco’s 3 Ball JT (USA).
Eighty-three teams from 15 nations are competing from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA. Racing continues through Saturday. Photos/video are available via International J/70 Class social media, and complete results may be found at https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eid=15594.